''Litocala'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

genus in the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

. Its only species, ''Litocala sexsignata'', the litocala moth, is found in the United States in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

south to southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and northern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

in Mexico. Both the genus and species were first described by

Leon F. Harvey Leon F. Harvey (October 20, 1837 – November 19, 1912) was an American entomologist, physician, and dentist. He was a founding member of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, serving as its first treasurer and later as its president. Early ...

, the genus in 1878 and the species three years earlier. The habitat consists of oak woodlands and forests."''Litocala sexsignata'' (Harvey, 1875)"
''Pacific Northwest Moths''. Retrieved December 10, 2019. The length of the forewings is 13–15 mm. The forewings are dark gray with an oblique whitish or silvery antemedian band and reniform spot. The hindwings are black with three large white spots, forming a triangle in the median area. Adults are on wing from March to June. They have been recorded sipping moisture at puddles and has also been found nectaring at

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

catkins.

Subspecies

*''Litocala sexsignata sexsignata'' *''Litocala sexsignata deserta'' Edwards, 1881

References

External links

* Melipotini Moths described in 1875 Moths of North America Monotypic moth genera {{Melipotini-stub Taxa named by Leon F. Harvey